Friday, August 19, 2011

I am on a mission people. A mission to clean out all of the bits and bobs and random bags of who knows what that have been hiding in the dark corners of my pantry (can just one cupboard be called a pantry?) and fridge for who knows how long. First up was the half full bag of cornmeal and the sad jalapeño left over from a pepper jelly adventure. Note to self: use gloves next time you make pepper jelly, seriously you are not that tough. Moving on...I think my heavy cast iron skillet was the most important part of this bready equation so use one if you have it. If you don't, a stainless steel skillet would probably work, but you will miss out on the superb crunchy crust that the cast iron gives the bread. I originally planned on chopping up the jalapeño and adding it into the batter, but Mr. Honey Bear caught my eye and I realized that it would be much better utilized in a sweet, spicy accompaniment, and jalapeño honey butter was born. The sweet, savory, spicy combo will knock your socks off so break out the cast iron this weekend and try out this recipe. Happy Friday!

Heat your oven to 425º. Place a dry, 9'' cast iron skillet in the middle of the oven to heat while you prepare the other ingredients

1. In a medium bowl, stir the cornmeal, baking soda, and salt together.
2. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk together.
3. Remove your skillet from the oven, careful it's hot! Toss in the butter and swirl it around the bottom and sides to melt it. Add the melted butter to the buttermilk/egg mix, then put the skillet back into the oven until you are ready to use it.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, then gently fold in the corn kernels. Pour the mixture into the hot cast iron pan and slide it back into the oven. Bake for 20-25min or until golden. Serve warm with jalapeño honey butter.

Whisk all of the ingredients together. Store leftover butter tightly wrapped in the fridge or freezer.

Note:
- If you are nice to your cast iron pans, they will last forever. Just please, for the love of unicorns, don't wash it with soap and make sure it is totally dry before you put it away. I always heat mine on the stove until all of the water evaporates.
- If you don't have a cast iron pan, you can buy them real cheap at most hardware stores.

oh my goodness, this looks so good. i'm pretty obsessed with cornbread and am down to try almost any cornbread recipe. i've even made cornbread that has quinoa in it, and one that has brown rice and apple juice! good old southern cornbread that is more gritty than cakey and more savory than sweet is the kind of cornbread i love though, so this looks perfect. paired with the honey butter? amazing! beautiful pictures as always.

Sounds amazing. Living just five miles from Lodge manufacturing headquarters & knowing so many of their management, I can assure you this would be a hit with the locals, especially the ones this this house!

Jess - I am far from southern, but I love cornbread...and butterNatalie - Cornbread with quinoa sounds great!renee - Cast iron was made for thisJen - Awesome, I have a Lodge Skillet and I love it! I hope you try out the recipe.myfudo - thanks!Rachel - I hope you try out the sweet/spicy combo. It is a real winner!

Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I've been (struggling) gluten free/dairy free since January, and cornbread was one of those things that I always thought SHOULD be gluten-free-able, and somehow I was never able to find a recipe like yours. I just sat down with a wedge of this and some black bean chili, and this is exactly what all cornbread should be - I can't wait to try it again!